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Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams)
The Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Herb Abrams. Edited episodes of the promotion's television show Fury Hour currently rerun on ESPN Classic. History Herb Abrams founded the UWF in 1990 with hopes of returning professional wrestling back to its roots. He signed top stars such as Paul Orndorff, Steve Williams, Don Muraco, Bob Orton, Jr., Brian Blair, Danny Spivey, Billy Jack Haynes, Ken Patera, Colonel DeBeers, David Sammartino, and Cactus Jack. He trademarked the UWF name in June 1991 because Bill Watts never bothered to trademark his version of the Universal Wrestling Federation that was sold to Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987. Abrams was head booker of the company from 1990 to 1992. Zoogz Rift, a cult musician and manager in the UWF, took over as head booker in 1993. Zoogz Rift accompanied Abrams on several international business trips in 1993, where they managed to secure home video deals for the company. He quit in March 1994, leaving Abrams to book the September 1994 Blackjack Brawl card. In late 1995, Zoogz Rift rejoined the company as Vice President, helping to secure new television deals with both SportsChannel America and Prime Network. Abrams' death in June 1996, however, marked the end of the company. Blackjack Brawl would stand as the final UWF show. The UWF tape library is currently owned by former wrestler Al Burke. In recent years, he has partnered with Todd Okerlund of Classic Wrestling to repackage and license the library through DirecTV and ESPN Classic Canada. Fury Hour In 1990, the company signed a deal with national cable network SportsChannel America. A weekly program called Fury Hour debuted in October 1990 and ran until 1993. In 1995, existing episodes were repackaged to half-hour format and aired on [ESPN2. These same episodes began airing on ESPN Classic on January 8, 2008. They can be seen Tuesday through Saturday at 1:00am and 1:30am ET. ESPN Classic Canada reran original one-hour format episodes of Fury Hour in 2004. Commentators Commissioners Recurring segments Results :For complete results of every UWF television taping, house show and major event, see Herb Abrams' UWF Cards. Beach Brawl Beach Brawl was the UWF's first and only live pay-per-view event. It was widely considered a failure because of its low attendance and pay-per-view buyrate of 0.10. *Dark match: Boris Zuhkov defeated Paul Samson *The Blackharts (Apocalypse and Destruction) (w/ Luna Vachon) defeated Fire Cat and Jim Cooper (7:45) *Terry Gordy fought Johnny Ace to a double count-out in a Street Fight (6:08) *The Killer Bees (Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell) defeated The Power Twins (Larry and David Power) (12:23) *Rockin' Robin defeated Candi Devine to win the first UWF Women's World Championship (6:05) *Paul Orndorff defeated Col. DeBeers in a Strap match (4:15) *Bob Backlund defeated Ivan Koloff (2:23) *Steve Ray and Sunny Beach defeated Cactus Jack and Bob Orton, Jr. (4:02) *Steve Williams defeated Bam Bam Bigelow to win the first UWF Television Championship (7:11) Blackjack Brawl Blackjack Brawl was the UWF's first and only live television event that aired on SportsChannel America. *Dan Spivey defeated Johnny Ace to win the first UWF Americas Championship (7:20) *Jack Armstrong defeated Mando Guerrero to win the first UWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (4:36) *Sunny Beach defeated Dr. Feelgood (w/ Missy Hyatt) (5:26) *Bob Orton, Jr. fought Finland Thor to a double disqualification and retained his UWF Southern States Championship (6:12) *Little Tokyo defeated The Karate Kid to win the first UWF Midget World Championship (7:33) *Samson defeated The Irish Assassin (4:13) *Tyler Mane defeated Steve Ray to win the first UWF MGM Grand Championship (7:25) *Candi Devine defeated Tina Moretti to win the vacant UWF Women's World Championship (3:26) *The Killer Bees (Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell) defeated The New Powers Of Pain (Warlord and Power Warrior) to win the first UWF World Tag Team Championship (11:49) *Cactus Jack and Jimmy Snuka fought to a double countout in a Lumberjack Match (9:03) *'Steve Williams defeated Sid Vicious by disqualification to retain his UWF World Heavyweight Championship (11:01) Steve Williams / Steve Ray shoot In 1991, Herb Abrams was owed money by Steve Ray and wrongly suspected that Ray was sleeping with his wife. On May 10, 1991 at a television taping in New York City, Abrams paid Steve Williams an extra $100 for the night to break Ray's nose during their match. The ensuing shoot aired in its entirety on an episode of ''Fury Hour. Championships *UWF Americas Championship (1994) *UWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (1993) *UWF Israeli Championship (1991) *UWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1994) *UWF MGM Grand Championship (1994) *UWF Midget World Championship (1994) *UWF North American Championship (1991) *UWF Southern States Championship (1992, 1994) *UWF SportsChannel Television Championship (1991-1992) *UWF Women's World Championship (1991, 1994) *UWF World Heavyweight Championship (1994) *UWF World Tag Team Championship (1994) Home video In 1992, the UWF issued six VHS releases in the United States through Best Film & Video Corporation: Beach Brawl, Tag Team Tandems, The Best Of Paul Orndorff, The Lumberjack Match, The Steel Cage Match, and Wrestling's Greatest Champions. In 1993, the UWF released six volumes of PAL videos in Germany through Summit International Pictures under the "Wrestling Super Champs" banner. They were all compilations of Fury Hour matches. The same six "Wrestling Super Champs" volumes were re-released in Germany through Jünger Verlag under the "Super Wrestling" banner. Recent years have seen the emergence of UWF DVDs in Australia through Payless Entertainment. Each of the seven Region 4 DVDs contains one episode of Fury Hour. The DVDs include Body Slammin, Grand Slam, Grudge Matches, It's War, Tag Team Madness, The Main Event, and Wrestling Wars. In Germany, a Region 0 DVD titled "Wrestling Super 4 Champs" was released containing two episodes of Fury Hour. Also in Germany, the "Wrestling Super Champs" VHS compilations were re-released on DVD in six volumes as "American History of Wrestling - UWF". Awards *'Wrestling Observer Newsletter' **1990 - Worst Television Announcer (Herb Abrams) **1991 - Worst Promotion of the Year (UWF) **1991 - Worst Television Show (Fury Hour) **1994 - Worst Major Wrestling Show (Blackjack Brawl) External links *Herb Abrams' UWF - Tribute site featuring a detailed history of the UWF promotion *ProWrestlingHistory.com - Herb Abrams' UWF - Complete results and title histories for every UWF show Category:American wrestling promotions Category:Defunct wrestling promotions Category:Promotions